Sometimes you just have to push...

          The woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34) and blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), what do these two have in common? They were persistent! They pushed their way through against challenges, opposition, the impossible. They were both alone and had no one to help. They knew what they wanted and without support went after their goal.
          How many of us face challenges as we strive to attain a particular goal? We see the goal, whether in our mind's eye or in reality and we make up our minds to achieve it. However, obstacles are in our way - lack of finances, lack of education, opposition from those who don't believe in us and / or who don't want us to attain our goal, fear - the greatest obstacle of all I believe, and the list goes on. Yet, it's about choosing to push past all these and reach for our goal. The woman had to push past the people in her way. Keep in mind according to Jewish culture, she was probably also considered unclean because of her condition, so that added to her challenge. Yet, she pushed past even this and went after what she wanted. Blind Bartimaeus faced the opposition of the crowd. He realised Jesus was passing by and he cried out to get His attention but the crowd tried to silence him. What did he do? Obey the crowd and shut up? NO! He cried out even louder.    Sometimes, we have to shout louder, try harder, push a little more. Opposition should not always be a STOP sign but the encouragement to try harder, to keep going even more forcefully until we reach our goal.
          Many times, we may find ourselves alone as we strive to achieve our goals. We know what we want, but there may be none who understands and therefore who supports. What do you do when your support systems fail, give up? NO! You go it alone if you have to but you don't give up. As a child of God you are never alone anyway because Jesus has promised to never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b). So, when human support fails, be encouraged God's support never will! Think about it, the woman was alone. There was no one with her. Everyone had probably given up on her healing anyhow. She was alone, yet she pushed her way through . . . ALONE! Blind Bartimaeus too was alone. He was without support so much so that when he called Jesus, instead of having pity on him and helping him, the crowd tried to shut him up. They could not understand his need and did not even care. Yet, even when they failed to support him, he cried out even louder . . . ALONE!
          Sometimes, we just have to do what we have to do . . . ALONE. It's nice to have support but when it's not there, you just have to go it alone remembering that Jesus is always there. I think sometimes He even allows human support to fail us because He wants us to put our faith, trust and confidence in Him and no one else. It's about developing our relationship with Him, growing in Him. It won't happen if others are around for us to rely on.
          At the end of the day, no matter what comes your way, no matter the challenges, God is still the God of the impossible and nothing is too hard for Him to accomplish. Challenges don't come to deter us but to point us to the One who can and will enable us to achieve our goal.